# 97
097
“Stop.”
Grant, who was leading the team from the front, raised his hand and stopped.
However, even if it was not his order, the team members were planning to stop anyway.
Dave swallowed dry saliva.
“Grant now.”
“…okay.”
“It’s in the back. … That’s the direction Andrew Seejo was heading in.”
“….”
The forest was so quiet that no one could hear the faint screams of the person just now.
The screaming voice is not alone. It was clearly the majority. And there is only one prey they should have been targeting.
Isn’t it quite obvious what this means?
“There must be trouble.”
Grant gritted his teeth to express his anger, but was unable to hide the cold sweat running down his temples.
If there had been a problem with scout Andrew Cho, the assassination would have already been resolved.
“Now, there is a change in strategy. “Everyone is heading to where Andrew Cho is.”
The agitation welling up in Grant’s heart made the end of Grant’s words tremble.
But no one felt sorry for Grant.
Because everyone felt the same way.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was like a mouse caught in a mouse trap.
If assassination was the best option, a head-on attack could be said to be the next best option.
However, although the word is ‘second best’, it is a situation that is infinitely close to the ‘worst’.
‘Holy shit!’
worst? The worst?
It’s a situation where many people are dealing with one person, and they’re going to immediately punish him for failing to assassinate him?
Grant’s wounded pride erased his fears.
Grant said as he turned around and went back the way he came.
“Do not be afraid. You are talented individuals recognized by the great United States. There is no way I could be defeated by a guy from a small place on the peninsula with no honor or dignity.”
Grant’s serious urging spread like a light in the hearts of the team members who followed him.
Those were also Grant’s words to himself.
okay.
The enemy is one and we are many.
We are recognized by all the people who occupy this vast territory!
Pride, burning like a flame, sprouted in their hearts.
After a while.
A field of corpses greeted them.
“….”
“….”
At first, I thought, ‘What is it?’ I wanted to.
Since there were pieces of meat lying around, I thought animals other than trolls must have been eating each other.
“…Andrew?”
Grant muttered in despair, blinking like a goldfish.
Even though half of the flesh had been torn off the face, there was no way I could recognize it. Wasn’t he a colleague who had been with me for a whopping 5 years?
It was clearly the face of a comrade in arms who had been joking and laughing just a few hours ago.
“Oof.”
While Grant was losing consciousness, a weak-willed teammate covered his mouth.
“Ugh…! “Gwaaeook-!”
Soon enough vomit was pouring out that I couldn’t even stop it with my hands.
Everyone forgot to breathe. It felt like time had stopped. The thick smell of blood pervades the nasal passages and threatens to pierce the brain.
And in the middle of all this tragedy.
A white-haired man was sitting on a rock, smoking a cigarette.
“You guys are such bad guys.”
Surprisingly, the person who said that was the main culprit of the massacre.
Daesung continued, following the faint cigarette smoke with his eyes.
“Don’t you think so?”
Before I got angry, I felt unfair.
To the point where he talks a lot, which is unusual for him.
“I saved the world you live in. You defended your territory from monsters. “But why on earth are you doing this to me?”
Grant and his team had no answer.
It’s not that I kept my mouth shut because I had nothing to say, but because I still found it difficult to accept the situation itself.
“I thought that if I give grace, the person who receives it will be grateful.”
“….”
“I still thought Earth would have that much common sense.”
But when I found out, I realized that it was a world as absurd as hell.
As he stared into empty space with emotionless eyes, he was thinking back to two years ago.
The day I made a lot of money and moved to Dogok-dong with my family.
The real estate agent’s words of gratitude, saying that my family is safe thanks to people like you, suddenly passed through his mind.
At that time, those few words made a very small sense of mission bloom in Daesung’s heart, where all he wanted was his family’s happiness and money.
It would be nice to express it as a vague sense of justice.
“….”
The fact that ‘I’ not only protected me and my family, but also other people’s families.
Yes, honestly, I was proud.
But now.
That sense of pride is common sense that I have believed in ever since.
“You bastards.”
It was torn to pieces because of those guys.
I was so angry and frustrated.
-Chik.
Daesung, lighting a cigarette on a rock, glanced over their heads.
Except for Grant and Dave, the ‘stigma of instigation’ did not appear on the rest of the people’s heads.
This didn’t happen because they recognized Daesung as being on the ‘same side’.
The stigma disappeared because they did not even dare to harbor ‘hostility’.
In the face of an overwhelming and enormous fear that they could not overcome, even their will to resist was castrated.
“Are you coming now?”
Of course, that wasn’t a reason for them to get out of here alive.
Daesung, who bounced his butt, slowly lifted his butt from the rock he was sitting on.
“This…”
Grant shook his head slowly and bit his lip.
Ododog.
The blood that burst from his lips moistened his dry throat.
The moment the taste of iron entered his mind, Grant suddenly came to his senses. And then I shouted with all my might.
“Everyone attack that guy! Go kill him! “Avenge your dead comrade!”
“….”
But there was not a single person here who carelessly took a step.
Along with Grant, the same was true for Dave Hopper, who still had a ‘stigma’ on him.
Grant, who was helpless, looked back at his teammates and shouted once more.
“What are you doing! You bastards! “What are you doing?”
“….”
“There is only one enemy! That bastard is bluffing! “Our side has an overwhelming advantage now!”
Naturally, Grant’s words had no effect on those who had long since lost their will to fight.
Grant, who saw the faces of his men frozen in fear, also gradually lost his expression.
“You bastards. “If you guys come here now and do this too-.”
“It won’t work.”
Suddenly, Daesung said what Grant was trying to say.
Then he lifted his right foot slightly.
“You will never obey orders, right?”
thud-!
Right foot stepping on the ground at a right angle.
[The authority < Provocation > is activated.]
[Focuses the attention of enemies recognized by the user within a 500m radius.]
In a way, it was like a command with the force of force.
A seemingly invisible chain spread across his toes and began to drag them away.
“This… profit!”
“Why is my body like this?”
“Stop it. “Stop!”
Captivated by the power of < Provocation >, they slowly narrowed the distance between them and Daeseong, as if they were drawn by a magnet.
My instincts were telling me not to approach, but my legs were moving on their own as if possessed by something.
“That’s right. good! Take courage! “Go and kill that guy!”
Except for Grant, that is.
This guy was intentionally not included in the scope of recognition to which < provocation > is applied.
Grant, who had no way of knowing the existence of power itself, smiled happily.
Of course, the others were on the verge of going crazy from this inexplicable situation.
“Uuuuuuuuu-!”
yet.
Completely consumed by the power of the authority, they kicked their legs and began to rush towards Daeseong.
Staring at them like fish throwing themselves into a net on their own.
-Howling!
Daesung implemented the Eophwa Great Sword.
“Not worthy of mercy.”
The moment when they, who were in tears after being pushed to the ground of death, approached the nearest distance.
Daesung swung his flaming sword.
Bu-ung!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-!!
With one swing, six bodies were split in half at once.
The blood that spurted out filled Geomlim Hell. Blade-like trees covered in fresh blood twisted their huge bodies and shot out sharp trunks.
Grumble-!
However, it was swept away by the storm of flames scattered by the Fire Flame Great Sword and was completely burned down.
The sword energy spread out violently like a wild beast, even destroying the trees and bushes around it.
“Ugh…?!”
Dave Hopper survived because the blade narrowly grazed him.
He, along with Grant, was able to maintain his ‘stigma’ even in this nightmare.
Dave had already raised the hammer when he was attracted to < Provocation >.
“Even if I die, I will die with you as my companion on the way to the underworld!”
The moment when Dave was about to strike down the hammer he had raised with explosive force.
Sigh-!
“Hundreds of millions…?!”
In one beat, Daesung’s fire-flaming sword pierced Dave’s stomach.
Grumbling-.
“Huh, heh…!”
Dave groaned as he felt the heat rising to his insides.
and.
Qua-ang!
The Fire Flame Greatsword stuck in his stomach exploded with fire.
Dave’s body exploded from the inside and he died without even having a chance to utter a word.
“This can’t be right….”
Faced with the flames that covered his vision, Grant sat down helplessly.
Jeopuk-. Jeopuk-.
Daesung’s eyes, leisurely breaking through the fire, were shining coldly.
“Fight, kill…”
Grant, who managed to hold his voice together, began to back away with his hips.
And he said something he had never said before and had sworn he would never say in his life.
“Please save me….”
“I knew you would say that.”
“Please save me… please save me. “I was wrong-.”
Grant, who had been begging for mercy, eventually burst into tears.
Even as his reason was fading, he realized how ugly he looked right now.
Daesung asked, standing in front of Grant, who was struggling on the dirt floor.
“Why did you do this?”
“Huh huh….”
“Answer me.”
I bent my knees and leaned my upper body forward to be at eye level with Grant.
Grant was constantly shaking his shoulders and sobbing, like a child being scolded by an adult. If an American saw this scene, they would be so shocked that they would be speechless.
“Ugh… That’s… Ugh… That’s that…” “
…” I
tried to confess, but the reason was so trivial that I couldn’t stop talking.
Grant, who didn’t know what to do, kept making strange noises that couldn’t be formed as sentences.
Daesung sighed.
“…done.”
“Black …. Huh ….
”
“Huh, huh…. Huh…. I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Just this once… Black! Please save me…. “I don’t want to die. I still…”
It was painful to hear any more.
[The power < Room of Erosion > is activated.]
[Creates a unique barrier that shows the target the most painful illusion.] A
black sphere rose from the ground with a system message and immediately ate Grant.
“Oh, no! “Save me-.”
The black sphere that had completely closed its mouth blocked Grant’s desperate screams.
It was the power captured from Jerome two years ago. I rarely had a chance to use it, so I put it away, but this is my first time using it.
‘The inherent barrier does not disappear until I cancel it myself.’
Unless the other person’s mental power is so strong that the barrier is broken by force.
What this meant was that those with weak mental powers would have to be trapped here and suffer endlessly repeating trauma with no end in sight.
Kereuk-
keek-.
At this time, several blade trolls appeared out of nowhere and began to surround Daeseong.
‘Is it because of < provocation >?’
It seemed like the troll that happened to be within the restricted radius had only just revealed itself.
Daesung accepted it positively.
‘Even though I killed the humans, the lifestone did not appear.’
As he said, nothing was created above the miserable corpses in Daesung’s field of vision.
It seems that lifestones do not appear even when a human is killed. However, it appeared to Moon Se-geol’s gang who had become zombies due to the fusion ampoule.
‘Is it because I’m human? Or… the lifestone may not appear in the same race.’
There is no connection that can be confirmed. Rather than that, isn’t there an absolutely certain life stone manufacturing machine right in front of us?
Keek-!
The three trolls howled and rushed forward.
Sigh-!
There was no need to swing the Fire Flame Great Sword, just Daeseong swinging his right hand filled with magical power turned them into dross.
[Would you like to obtain the ‘Dimension Race Life Stone (x3)’? Yes / No]
Daesung collected the lifestone with the thought of getting at least this.
And I immediately checked the collection rate.
[Current collection rate: 56.7%]
Jumped from 52.9% to 56.7%.
Roughly speaking, each animal accounts for a 1-2% stake.
“They’re similar to the last ones.”
Still, I had no intention of wandering around this Geomlim Hell with sore feet.
This is because the number of trolls was not that large, considering the long stay time required to attack the gate.
Although it is said to be a great mountain, wandering around this dark forest was not very pleasant, and more than anything else.
‘As I move further away, the barrier of the < Room of Erosion > also weakens.’
Actually, this is the biggest reason.
It wasn’t listed in the power information section, but I felt it through intuition.
< Room of Erosion > formed a strong bond with his ether. It is an obvious fact that the further the distance is, the weaker the bond will be.
‘Then that won’t work.’
Considering what I had to do from now on, I still had to keep Grant locked in the barrier a little longer.
at last.
Daesung broke the barrier when there were 10 minutes left until the gate was cleared.
Sreuk-.
“Hehehe….”
Grant, who escaped from the barrier after a long period of confinement, was in an unusual condition.
Saliva was flowing from his slightly opened mouth, and his eyelids were puffy as if he had been up all night for several days.
He truly looked like an example of a crazy human being.
“Hee hee… huh…? Hehehe…”
No, it’s not like that, I’m really out of my mind. Even the person exercising the power does not know what memories he saw that led to this.
Okay.
Daesung placed his hand on Grant’s forehead, who had lost consciousness.
And I just activated the new power I acquired through < The Book >.
[The power < Dominate > is activated.]
< Power information >
Domination
[Take control of the target’s mind.]
[The control due to control is proportional to how devastated the target’s mind is.]
[Similarly, the target’s mind is worn down . As it wears out, the duration of the power also increases.]
Once it worked, the effect itself was deceptive, but the prerequisites were too difficult.
No matter how confused and panicked you are, if you have even a shred of reason left to distinguish between the front and the back, the power of < Dominion > will not be able to exert its full power.
Of course, this does not apply to Grant today.
“listen carefully.”
Daesung spoke to Grant, whose expression disappeared like a wax doll.
“When you go out here, announce this to people. “You asked me for cooperation, so you acted alone with your teammates, but your teammates were killed and you survived alone.”
“yes.”
“And commit suicide two days after you leave. “You should hang yourself.”
“yes.”
“Leave a will before you die. In fact, your clan tried to assassinate me under the pretense of asking for my cooperation. “But I couldn’t overcome my conscience and felt ashamed of myself, so I decided to pay for my sin with my life.”
“yes.”
If all members of a large clan die and Daesung is the only one to leave the gate, suspicion will be raised.
There may be no physical proof, but the work will definitely be tiring because the emotions are so intense.
It was < domination > to prevent that.
10 minutes later.
A door to the outside world opened right nearby.
“Let’s go out.”
“yes.”
Grant nodded expressionlessly and walked toward the white light pouring from the exit.
***
< America in shock! < Country > loses valuable military power due to its arbitrary actions! >
< Public opinion boils over at Director Grant's statement. He must be held accountable for driving world-class hunters to death... >
The news came out and public opinion was heated.
Some even said that the head of the American Hunters Association should offer an official apology to Daesung for wasting his time on < Country >.
and.
“….”
Amidst all these reprimands and accusations.
Grant was basking in the sun expressionlessly.
It was such a clear and sunny day.
In two days, he would kill himself, leaving a will with shocking contents… but
it wasn’t going to happen right now.